Posted on 04/29/2014 11:15:45 AM PDT by boatbums
My cats know their names, wait for me, come when called, and talk to me.
My 3 cats ride well in pet carriers, so long as they have a towel or blanket to hide under. My Husky will ride without complaint, if I want her to-she is 15, so we have been in tune for a long time.
As soon as I have something secured to start building, I will start leaving a window down in the 4x4 for a couple of hours in the evening for the neighbor’s cat to investigate, but I can’t leave the window down after dark-raccoons and other critters will get in and make a mess...
Depending on what is for sale at rock bottom price at the time, I will be only 1 to 5 miles away, but the cat’s owners are just weekend people, not part of the community, so they won’t ever know a thing.
I found Midget girl in the woods when I was hiking-she was trying to be invisible under an oak tree, in the fallen leaves-her sister was nearby, and their small size and tabby coats kept them semi-visible-Midget has 4 white paws and vest, but the rest of her fur is grayish tan brindled with charcoal spots and stripes-so she blended right in.
Sadly, Midget’s sister died in a fall from the loft at my former home in a chase with my Maine Coon. She was always feral, never very friendly at all, but Midget is a Velcro cat, quietly clinging, and a bit of a ‘fraidy cat.
I actually did catch one of hers, not long before he got neutered. I forget what button he pushed but it was the wrong one on the wrong evening. But, the direct application of steel-toed shoe to his applesack, combined with the surprising amount of forward thrust I generated, sent the little SOB from the kitchen, lengthwise through the living room, and into the spare bedroom, where he didn’t come out of for three days. Needless to say, to this day he thinks we’re best buds now. He understands the alternative. He comes when I call him, and sleeps on a log ottoman next to my computer desk in the evenings.
Our two respond and know their names and that of the other, sometimes come when called (if they're in the mood) and are overall the sweetest additions to our lives. We love them very much.
My intuitive guess is that they don't really "know" their names (they don't have (human) linguistic skills), but they respond rather to the inflection of your voice, to which they are accustomed. You use different inflections when you call each of them by name, and they can tell the difference.
Yes, cats can be trained to do things that dogs do, and maybe in some instances, more.
There are also stories of cats who are lost having the directional sense to return home to their owners from many miles away. Wouldn't experiment with that, though.
They were looking at the wrong cats.
It does not matter which cat I call. They all come running. They are busy not ignoring me at the moment, doing little things to get attention, like jumping on the keyboard so as to add their unintelligible comments to my post.
Even then, individual personality quirks have a big impact on how they turn out.
I had a cat who had been born in my closet, and so was socialized from day one. She was always very timid and skittish. She liked to be nearby, but was almost impossible to handle. I currently have a couple of cats who were feral until about 4 months of age, who remain somewhat skittish. They cannot be picked up, but they do like to be petted. Their behavior is not much different than that of the timid cat who was born in my closet.
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